Chapter 16
Journey's End (旅の終わり, Tabi no Owari) is the 16th chapter of the Kiseijuu manga series, written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki. Overview During Uda's fight with the Nobuko-imitator parasite, he begins falling behind due him being out of shape and unable to breathe. The parasite quickly overpowers him and stabs him in the heart. Shinichi arrives and vastly overshadows the parasites abilities, but before he finishes her off, he notices the burn mark he caused all those years ago, and hesitates. As the parasite recovers, Jaw (then called Parasite) surprise attacks her. He reveals he moved Uda's vitals out of the way of her attack. After Shinichi's father is released from the hospital, they decide to head home. Summary Unsure of where Uda and the parasite are, Shinichi tries to follow the sounds of their fight. The enemy parasite compares her full control of her host body to Parasite's weak host, and moves in for the kill. Parasite internally notices that her attacks are all towards one point on the body. She then lashes out and gets past Parasite's guard, stabbing Uda in the chest. He falls over the cliff to a lower level, and the enemy parasite tells Parasite that for a parasite-human hybrid, the safest kill is through the heart. She then senses Migi's signal, and wonders why there is another parasite around when there are so few humans. She ponders on the quiet signal of the sleeping parasite who is nevertheless moving towards her, and comes face to face with Shinichi. She asks how he managed to live when she stabbed him through the heart, and wonders if she should have cut his head off too. Shinichi appears pained at her mimicking Nobuko's voice, then states it makes him want to kill her faster. Unable to stand seeing his mother's face deform, he closes his eyes as the parasite prepares for battle, then dodges the first attack easily. The parasite is shocked at his inhuman reflexes, and he is amazed at now being able to see a parasite's attacks despite the speed. With only his sword hand Shinichi defends himself from multiple attacks, and after moving notices Uda's body down below. Angered, he presses his attack and wounds the enemy parasite, frantically attempting to kill her. She falls down under his assault and he prepares to decapitate her. She brings up an arm, revealing Nobuko's burn and causing Shinichi to hesitate and let down his guard. Taking advantage of it, the parasite then stands and prepares to kill him, but is decapitated and dismembered from behind by Parasite. Nobuko's body falls into the ocean. Uda crawls back up with Parasite's help and says he thought Shinichi shouldn't have been the one to kill her, mother or not. The dying parasite asks how he lived, and Parasite reveals that he'd noticed her aiming solely for the heart and opened a path for her blade to go through without hitting any vital orgals. She then dies. Shinichi looks down at the ocean, and considers things finished. At the Namiki Inn, he thanks Makiko's family for everything and goes to pick up his father, with her walking with him on the way. She asks if he did what he came to do, and he says yes. She tells him to come again some day, which he tries to deny and she refuses to hear. She then tells him goodbye as he enters the hospital. Before they depart, Kazuyuki takes his son to a cliffside but doesn't explain. Shinichi thinks back to Uda and Migi telling him that he shouldn't tell his father the truth and he agrees, afraid he will tell the world about it and be targeted by the parasites for doing so. Shinichi decides that once the world finds out about parasites on its own, he'll tell his dad then. Kazuyuki tells him that his mother still loves him and Kazuyuki loves the both of them. Shinichi asks if his mother suffered in the dream. Kazuyuki tells him it was over in an instant. Shinichi then falls asleep on the cliffside. Characters Navigation Category:Chapters Category:Manga Category:Volume 3